Kobe Bryant denied rumors that he was one of the reasons behind Mike D'Antoni's decision to resign as Los Angeles Lakers head coach.
Previous reports indicated that D'Antoni decided to step down because Bryant and Pau Gasol don't want to play for him anymore. But when asked if he was really happy when D'Antoni resigned, Bryant said in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel that he didn't care about his former coach's decision.
Bryant actually expressed apathy, pointing out that D'Antoni did not get a fair shake during his stint as Lakers coach because of the injuries that he had to deal with over the past two seasons.
"Mike was dealt a really bad hand in dealing with all the injuries that he had here," Bryant said via ESPN Los Angeles."This is a tough place, man. If you're not winning, you're not going to survive, man."
Bryant also admitted that he is expecting that team executives will ask him for inputs about their upcoming coaching search, adding that the team failed big time in their last two hiring after Phil Jackson stepped down - referring to D'Antoni and former Lakers coach Mike Brown.
According to reports, the 35-year-old superstar wants the Lakers to make a strong push to convince Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau to make a move to Los Angeles, but the scenario is highly unlikely.
Sources also indicated that the 16-time All-Star would love to play under Jeff Van Gundy or European coach Ettore Messina, while Byron Scott and former teammate Derek Fisher are also on his list of preferred coaches.
But while Bryant wants his opinion to be heard with regards to their coaching search, he also reiterated that he wants their executive to base their decision on who can put the team in a better situation, and not about who the players want.
"Honestly, it's not really about whether the players like the coach or not," Bryant said. "It's really about getting results. Liking somebody and those results don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. Sometimes when a coach is driving you, you don't necessarily like it, but it's a part of the process, and then once you win, everybody is buddy-buddy after that."
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